Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993 TAG: 9307130229
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Drivers, crews and other members of the NASCAR family were praying that Allison will recover from serious head injuries, as his father, Bobby, has done after his near-fatal crash at Pocono (Pa.) International Raceway in 1988.
"Everybody is praying tonight," fellow Ford Thunderbird driver Mark Martin said Monday. "I don't want to say anything because I'm hoping to hear better news tomorrow.
"Miracles do happen, medical and otherwise. That's what we're praying for."
Allison, 32, is one of Ford's top drivers, as was 1992 Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, who was killed April 1 in an airplane crash outside Bristol, Tenn. With a third-place finish Sunday in the inaugural Winston Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway, Allison had jumped from seventh to fifth in the Winston Cup points championship.
Ford spokesman Wayne Estes said Ford motorsports officials were stunned by news of the crash.
"We've seen Davey do some pretty miraculous things in the past," Estes said. "You can look at it optimistically or pessimistically, and right now we're looking at it optimistically. Everybody is on prayer vigils tonight."
Longtime "Alabama Gang" driver and mechanic Red Farmer also was severely injured in the crash, yet another tragedy for the Allison family, which lost Davey's brother, Clifford, to a crash in August 1992 during practice at Michigan International Speedway.
"The Allison family has had enough tragedy in the last few years," Ford driver Jimmy Hensley said Monday night from his home in Ridgeway. "They've had more than their share of heartaches here lately. It's like it just doesn't quit."
When news of Monday's accident reached Charlotte, N.C., Winston Cup car owner Felix Sabates made a plane available to key Allison team members for a flight to Birmingham, Ala., were Allison is hospitalized, Estes said.
Allison's car owner, Robert Yates, and his wife, Carolyn, were on the plane, as were crew chief Larry McReynolds and his wife, Linda, team publicist Brian VanDercook and Red Farmer's son, Mike, who lives in Gastonia, N.C. They were said to be keeping a vigil at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham.
Allison reportedly had purchased the helicopter only a few weeks ago and had just been certified as a solo pilot. He had been taking flying lessons for more than a year.
Bulldozers have been grading the earth behind Davey's race shop in his hometown of Hueytown, Ala., to build a helipad.
The flight to Talladega apparently was a leisure excursion to see Neil Bonnett's son, David, practice in a Busch Grand National car.
Neil Bonnett, another member of the "Alabama Gang," had held a news conference at the track at noon Monday to formally announce he would drive one of Dale Earnhardt's cars in the July 25 DieHard 500 at the track.
Last August, Davey's brother Clifford was killed in an crash during practice at Michigan International Speedway.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB